Bow making



Jan. 18, 1966 A. w. CAPSTICK 3,229,870

BOW MAKING Filed Aug. 27, 1962 Um/62A 7% 17772 xwzxs,

United States Patent 6 3,229,870 BOW MAKING Alice W. Capstick, 6001 Helen, Ferguson, Mo. Filed Aug. 27, 1962, Ser. No; 219,484 6 Claims. (Cl. 223-46) This invention'relatesto bow making and particularly to a form for making rosettes of ribbon, and a method of' making bows by means of the form.

Bow making forms have been known heretofore. A patent to Dean, No. 3,02l,038,'illustrates such a form. The bow or rosette resulting from the use of the Dean form is attractive in appearance. However, in using theDean form, loops must be pushed'through' a center aperture, and the bundle of loops, after tying, must be pushed back through the aperture in' order to release the ribbon from the form, and the resulting bow is provided with a stem constituted by the tied loops. This stem can serve a useful purpose in many applications, but does interfere'with bows lying flat.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a bowmaking form and method of using it, by which an attractive bow can be' made easily and in such a way as to present no depending central stem.

Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the following description and accompanying drawing.

In accordance with this invention, generally stated, a bow-making form is provided in the form of a spider, with an odd number of legs projecting substantially radiallywith respect to means for temporarily lholding'ribbon from which the bow or rosette being made. The legs are of such length and flexibility, that when the bow is made, the legs can be flexed-toward the bow to release the petals of the rosette without stretching or otherwise producing radially outwarddistortion of the petals or their connecting ribbon. A

In the preferred embodiment, the temporary ribbon holding means is a spindle, which may be the spurof a thumbtack.

The method of this invention includes the steps of looping a ribbon about the ends of the legs, as is described in more detail hereinafter, anchoring the ribbon intermediate each long span, temporarily, on the ribbon holding means; flexing the legs of the form out from the petals of the rosette formed on them, while holding the intermediate part of the rosette, and fastening the intermediate sections in flat superposition. In the preferred embodiment, the superposed intermediate sections are stapled. In order to conceal the staple or other fastening means, a loop of ribbon can be formed in the center of the rosette, and the fastening means placed within the compass of the loop.

In the drawing, FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of one illustrative embodiment of bow making form of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an edge view of the bow making form of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a simple, single-ply bow, without a center loop, made on the form of FIGURES 1 and 2 in accordance with the method of this invention; and

FIGURE 4 is a single-ply bow made of two superposed bows of the character of the bow shown in FIG- URE 3, the upper one of which is provided with a center loop.

Referring now to the drawing for one illustrative embodiment of form of this invention, reference numeral indicates a completed form, which, in this embodiment, consists of a flat spider of polyethylene, about inch thick, and a thumbtack 15, with its head 16 on one ice side and its spur 17 projecting through and substantially beyond'the surface of the other side.

The form 10 has in this embodiment, five legs 1, 2, 3, 4' and 5 respectively. are symmetrically arranged about a center 6, hence about the spur 17 'which projects through the middle of the center.

relative to their length, being, in this embodiment, about half as wide, at the root, as long.

In this illustrative embodiment, the free end of each of the legs is chamfered at an angle of 72, in both di rections from the center line of the leg, to define an apex, for reasons which will b e explained hereinafter.

The proportions of the legs and the characteristics of the plastic are such that the legs normally are flat, so that the legs all lie in the same plane, but they are radially bendable, |springing back to their flat position 18 of the ribbon. The ribbon is led over one diagonal edge 11 of the free end of th'e leg 1 beneath the apex 12 of the leg and back around the other diagonal edge 13, across the spur 17, upon which the intermediatepart' of the ribbon is impaled, around an edge 41 of the leg 4, under the apex 42' of that leg and back around the edge 43, again across the spur 17 on which this reach of the ribbon is also impaled, around an edge 21 of the leg 2, beneath the apex 22 and' back over the edge 23, again across the spur 17, upon which this reach is impaled, around the edge Slof the leg 5, beneath the apex 52' and back over the edge 53, over the spur 17 upon which it is also impaled, around the edge 31 of the leg 3, beneath the apex 32, back over-.the edge 33, back to the spur 17, upon which the ribbon is imp'aledand beyond which'the ribbon is cut if necessary.

The impaled intermediate" reaches of the ribbon are. held between the thumb and a finger of one' hand, and

the legs are flipped out from the lobes on them, by bending either the legs or lobes or both inwardly toward the spur. The thumb or finger as may be preferred, can now he slipped between the form and the impaled section, to hold the intermediate reaches of the rosette firmly, the spur slipped out from the superposed reaches of ribbon, and the form put down. Either before or after the form is removed, the rosette is inverted, the tail 18 is formed into a loop and its free end grasped so that it is superimposed on the superposed reaches, a stapler head is inserted within the loop, and a staple or staples 9 driven through the loop end and superposed reaches.

This forms a simple, single-ply, five-lobed rosette. FIGURE 3 illustrates such a rosette without the loop 18. In FIGURE 4, such a rosette for-ms the top half of a double bow.

It is an easy matter to make another rosette, Without the tail (cf. FIGURE 3), on the same sized form or a larger form, and to fasten the rosette with the center loop to the center of the rosette without the center loop, preferably in such a way that the lobes or petals of the two rosettes .are staggered with respect to one another (cf. FIGURE 4). Of course, two looped rosettes can be fastened together back to back.

It is also simple and very effective to use two ribbons, one superposed on the other, simultaneously, in forming the lobes. Then, when the rosette has been formed and Patented Jan. 18, 1966 The legs 1-5 are identical, and

In the embodiment shown, the legs are tapered con'vergently from root to tip. They are narrow 3 stapled, the ribbon which was underneath, and which is now within the lobes, is pulled out from within the lobes, and forms a double layer of petals. Two such rosettes, fastened together, make a full, tightly clustered rosette;

It can be seen that various numbers of legs may be used, provided that there is an odd number of legs, and provided that the legs are sulficiently long and flexible to permit the easy flipping of the legs from the lobes or the lobes from the legs, as the user prefers. It can also be seen that other anchoring means, besides the central spindle may also be used, for example, a spring clip.

The chamfered edges of the free ends of the legs are preferably cut at such an angle as to make the edges at opposite ends of each reach of the ribbon substantially parallel, e.g., 72 in the case of a five legged form. However, the form is operative within a considerable range of angles, and the outer ends of the legs can even be rounded. More acute angles facilitate the forming of looser lobes.

The form is preferably flat and thin, but it may be bowed concavely slightly, though this somewhat complicates the temporary holding problem. Any suitable flexible material such as vinyl plastics, acrylics, styrene copolymers and the like may be used for the form. The polyethylene sheet is tough and slick as well as flexible, and thus is admirably suited to the task. 7

I Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A form for making ribbon bows comprising a spider having a center and an odd number of outwardly extending flexible legs arranged around said center,'each of said legs having a free outer end chamfered to form a central apex, said legs being long relative to their width at the root.

2. A form for making ribbon bows comprising a spider having a center and five outwardly extending flexible legs arranged symmetrically around and integral with said center, a thumbtack extending through the said center, with its spur projecting perpendicularly therefrom, each of said legs having a free outer end chamfered symmetrically about a center line of said leg to form an angel of 72 with said center line each way from said center line.

3. The form of claim 2 wherein the legs are approximately twice as long as their width at their roots.

4. The method of forming a ribbon bow on a spider having an odd number of flexible, elongated outwardly extend- 4 2 ing legs about a center, comprising, holding a ribbon ,at the said center, looping said ribbon about and on the outer end of one of the said legs, bringing a reach of ribbon back across said center and holding said reach flatly superposed on the first reach, looping said ribbon in the same relative order about and on the outer end of an oppositely disposed offset leg, bringing a reach of ribbon back across said center and holding said reach flatly the first reach of ribbon at such a distance from an end as to leave a tail of ribbon; inverting the formed bow before it is fastened; forming a central loop of said tail, and fastening the free end of said tail andsaid reaches, all in flatly superposed condition, within the compass of said loop.

6. A form for making ribbon bows, comprising a spider having a center and an odd number of outwardly extending flexible legs arranged about said center with edge margins of roots of adjacent legs meeting at the spider to define the apex of an angle between them'and the outer ends of said legs being adapted to receive ribbon portions whereby the length of the fingers and their angularity with respect to one another determine ribbon paths.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,093,828 9/1937 Carlson 223---46 X 2,413,955 1/1947 Cottrell 28-15 2,860,399 11/1958 Bates 223-46 X 3,044,670 7/1962 Barefoot 223-46 3,061,153 10/ 1962 Rector 22346 3,129,861 4/ 1964 Napier 22346 3,193,162 7/ 1965 Montoya 223-46 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Examiner. 

1. A FORM FOR MAKING RIBBON BOWS COMPRISING A SPIDER HAVING A CENTER AND AN ODD NUMBER OF OUTWARDLY EXTENDING FLEXIBLE LEGS ARRANGED AROUND SAID CENTER, EACH OF SAID LEGS HAVING A FREE OUTER END CHAMFERED TO FORM A CENTRAL APEX, SAID LEGS BEING LONG RELATIVE TO THEIR WIDTH AT THE ROOT. 